Hiding a deck of Cards - a Y. Kippur Meditation

B"H

I wish you a very amazing Yom Kippur

(Sun. Night - Mon. night).

May you and your family have a sweet year, with all blessings materially and spiritually.

May the best of last year, be the worst of this year!

Mendel Futerfas, fondly known by all as "Reb Mendel", was a special Chassid who inspired all who met him. He suffered much hardship in his life on account of his self-sacrifice to teach children Torah in Communist Russia where it was forbidden. He was finally caught at one point, and was sentenced to 15 years of labor in Siberia. He later moved to Israel and taught students there. He passed away in 1995.

A Teacher here in my yeshiva, Rabbi Kaplan, was a student of his many years ago.

He related to us the following story he heard directly from Reb Mendel:

"One night, I was resting in a room shared with many other Russian prisoners. They were playing cards and having a very good time.

All of a sudden we heard footsteps, and in stormed one of the officers.

"Where are the cards!?!" Yelled the officer, "I know you're playing cards and I'm going to catch you." Glancing around the room, the officer gave a final glare at all those around him, and left.

No sooner had he left, than the cards were right back on the table and the playing ensued.

After a few minutes, the door again slammed open.

"I know they're here!"

This time the Officer had brought a fellow officer with him, and they began frisking every prisoner, turning over tables and chairs, searching high and low for the illegal deck of cards. After 15 minutes of searching, the officers left angry & exasperated.

After they had left, the cards were placed back on the table and playing resumed. "I couldn't take it anymore," related Reb Mendel. "I had to know how these prisoners hid the cards with such amazing efficiency! So I asked them, "How do you do it?"

"We can't tell you," one of them answered. "You'll rat on us."

"Come on," Reb mendel argued, "I'm a prisoner just like you. Why would I care to do that?"

"Fine," one of them answered. "I'll tell you.

We prisoners are thieves by trade. We're quick with our hands. Whenever the officer enters, one of us takes the deck and secretly places it in his pocket. It's the only place he never thinks to check."

Reb Mendel sat back to think. In every circumstance and event Reb Mendel found himself in, he always liked to find a lesson to be learned in life and in the service of G-d. What lesson could be gleaned from this situation? At a Chassidic Gathering years later, Reb Mendel explained what he had learned:

"Oftentimes we're so busy checking other people's pockets, that we forget to check our own pockets, where the issue really lies."

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As Yom Kippur nears, it's a propitious time to reflect on how we may have wronged others in our lives, and ask for their forgiveness.

But in our hearts, many of us truly believe that we are not the ones to be blamed.

But we have to check our "pockets."

In marital relationships, a spouse has one of 2 options. To always blame the other for issues of contention that arise, or to have the sense of mind to check one's own pockets to see if he or she has an area which they could fix. This applies to all relationships. We all (including myself) mistakenly spend too much time trying to fix those around us, when we should rather be spending the time working on ourselves. For ultimately, at the end of the day, we only have ourselves to fix. Its much easier to find the faults in others around us. To look within, with honesty, and find areas that need fixing, is truly wise, and truly holy.

With this attitude in mind, our forgiveness of others at this time of year, and our requests for forgiveness, should meet with increased success, and continue throughout the year!

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To end off with one point about the auspicious day of Yom Kippur itself. Many of us spend the day in Synagogue, fasting, waiting for the day to end, counting the seconds on the clock and fantasizing as to which flavor of Jamba Juice we're going to get when it finishes

(Mango anyone? )

It's very important though, on such a special day, to try and choose a moment or two, to truly meditate on our lives and our connection to G-d and our Judaism.

I heard a nice idea last night. The final prayer of the day of Yom Kippur is called Ne'ilah. This time is usually described as the last chance of the year, as the heavenly "gates" are closing, to send our last pleas and requests to G-d for our coming year.

Chassidic teachings take this a bit deeper.

On Yom Kippur, our souls are awakened to a deeper connection with G-d. As Ne'ilah approaches, and the gates are closing, we are left alone with G-d - behind the gates, inside. It's taught that each of the 5 prayers of the day correspond to one of the *5 levels in of our soul. This is a time to really connect and revel in our close and unbreakable bond with our Maker. Let's take advantage of this day, and springboard into the year with its inspiration!

-Daniel

Jerusalem, Israel

May you be Sealed for a good & sweet year!

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*Classical kabbala identifies four levels of the soul - called 1)Nefesh, 2)Ruach, 3)Neshama, and 4)Neshama l'neshama. Nefesh is the animating principle of the physical body and the senses; ruach is the force vitalizing the emotions; neshama is the vitality of intellect; and neshama l'neshama is the essence of life of the human soul. The Arizal refers to this fourth level of soul as Chaya, signifying its function as the essence of life. However, all these four aspects of the soul he regarded as mere extensions of the essence of the soul, which he called Yechida.

Creating our Universe - a R. Hashana Meditation

B"H

Certain things are taken for granted.
For example, when we turn on a sink faucet, we expect and assume that water will emerge from the tap. Or a child in most households who opens the refrigerator expects to find food on its shelves. In truth, however, neither the water nor the food appear on their own. There is a well-staffed company which maintains the water pipes and pumps necessary to draw water from the reservoir into the residential home, and parents invest incredible energy to stock the refrigerator...

Beginning tomorrow night, Friday (the 1st day of Tishrei) and continuing through Sunday evening, Jews the world over will be petitioning G-d to continue maintaining the universe, like 'water through the tap' for another year. In the absence of the steady flow of Divine energy, all would cease to exist. As we celebrate the momentous holiday of "Rosh Hashana," the anniversary of the creation of the universe, we are not only commemorating creation, but are asking for a renewal of it. Our mystics explain that during these 48 hrs., depending on our requests & will, G-d Will Decide whether to renew the world for another year (and of course, whether that year will be filled w/ wealth, health, and all of our daily needs and desires).
Also, these 48 hrs. are considered the "Rosh" (lit. head) of our year - which, like a head, contains all of the life force for every hr. & day of the coming year (like limbs of the body).

Big Stuff huh?

There's just one hitch to this whole equation: Why in the world (no pun intended) are we commemorating the creation of the world, and are working to have it renewed, on the 1st day of Tishrei!?
"Why not?" you ask.
Well, it just so happens that the Midrash writes that Adam & Eve were created on this 1st day of Tishrei (Rosh Hashana). And we know that they were created on the 6th day of creation.
{ed. note: if you've happen to have been beaten over the head w/ the concept of the world's being formed by chance, check: here , here , or here as food for thought}
Which means that we're really celebrating Rosh Hashana and G-d's Creation on the 6th day of creation. How absurd!

Or is it?

Our Wise Sages explain that this is not by chance. The initial creation of the world came out of G-d's Kindness. But after that, every year the decision to continue creating & enlivening our universe depends on us. That is why we celebrate Rosh Hashana on the 6th day of Creation, for it's on every man and woman to work on our performance of G-d's Will in improving this world and ourselves, in order to elicit G-d's Will for Creation again each year. Our efforts directly affect the creation of the universe.
This idea can be very inspirational, for it shows how vital our efforts really are, in our day to day lives.
The number one focus of the short, precious hours of Rosh Hashana, say our Sages, is to crown Hashem joyfully as our King for another year. For that joy and willingness evokes in G-d the Will to be King for this coming year over His beloved people and world. By contemplating that we are able to give such a pleasure to the Infinite G-d, hopefully this actually can inspire us to really feel joyful when we sit in the synagogue or wherever we are this Rosh Hashana, and inspire us to live a year of more productivity in all areas of good.

May you be inscribed & sealed for a good and sweet year, physically and spiritually, and may all your dreams be fulfilled in all areas of good. And may we all merit to meet together here in Yerushalayim, with the final redemption, may it happen now!!

Daniel
Jerusalem, Israel

P.S. Please forgive me if I have wronged you in any way this yr.!

Perceiving Our inner hum

B"H

A Jewish student at Boston University enrolled in a course on Philosophy. Interestingly enough, this particular Philosophy Professor tended to include many spiritual themes, like "G-d" & "soul" on a frequent basis.One day, as students dragged themselves to class, this student took his seat among them. As they settled down and slowly quieted their chatting and laughing, the Professor stood at his podium looking ready to begin. But what came was nothing but silence. Nothing happened. Minutes ticked by, and the Professor wasn't saying a word! Everyone looked at each other with confused looks, thinking that the Professor must be off his rocker. Time continued to tick. Finally, after much squirming and uncomfortable silence, the Professor opened his mouth: "
Do you hear that?" Now they were certain. This poor guy must have a screw loose somewhere. No one had said a word and there was definitely nothing to "hear"! After a few more minutes of silence, the Professor asked again: "Do any of you hear that?" Again, no one could understand.During this whole perplexing scene, this student began to think as to what the teacher was referring to. "Come to think of it, I never heard the humming of the fan in this room before." After the Professor asked a third time,
this student spoke up: "I can hear the humming of the fan..." "Excellent" said the Professor.
"It was always there, but when all of you were busy talking, you never noticed it. You never heard it.
All of you are dismissed, have a great day."Everyone jumped out of their seats, ecstatic with their early dismissal. But this particular student remained in his seat, bewildered. What message is this guy trying to get across here? After 2 weeks of pestering his teacher, the Professor finally revealed his thinking to his student: "We're so busy talking, moving, being distracted, that we never just take a second to stop and hear our own soul."
(As told by this student to Rabbi Yossi Jacobson) Author Tzvi Freeman once said, that often-times after attending a "farbrengen" (Chassidic gathering) led by the Lubavitcher Rebbe (where hours upon hours of deep material was shared), he would drive from Brooklyn to a secluded place somewhere to quietly think over all that he had heard. "Nowadays," says Tzvi, "if you see someone thinking deeply for a minute, someone will probably walk over to him and gently ask him if everything's alright!"

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We all have souls, souls which our mystics desribe as literally "a spark of G-d."
How come many of us fail to ever feel this extremely powerful force within us?
True, many of us would love to feel that side of us more; to connect more with that deeper, more spiritual part that we all possess inside. So how do we get in touch with it?

As the above stories illustrate, too often we are so immersed in the physical world, and our senses are so bombarded from all sides and angles, we never give our souls a second to make themselves heard in our lives. If we are constantly gossiping, watching TV, talking on the phone, and eating, how can we expect our spiritual side to ever surface?

We need to be able to take a minute from time to time in our busy day, and just stop.
This is by the way, what prayer helps us do. "I'd like to stop from the busying frenzy of my day, but how can I?" This is why prayer was instituted; to force us to take a minute (3 times a day) to re-focus on the deeper things in life, to reveal our spiritual side more.
In a broader sense, this is what Shabbat is. That time in our busy week when we're forced to quiet down our connections to physicality a bit (not completely - we still eat well!) and spend more time on meditation and reflection on the purpose of our lives, and of what's truly important.

It's very difficult at first for one to reveal his spiritual side, because to do so means to perceive the subtlety in life. Rabbi Yosef Y. Shneerson once remarked: "If you can't stop and gaze at a painting, and appreciate it's intricacies and its message, than you will have a tough time meditating on G-d." The same goes for appreciating the rhythm of music, and the harmony of nature. Appreciate that which isn't yelling for attention, but whose beauty is screaming to be noticed.
For myself, sitting in a secluded area in nature (for me it was ideally by the trees near the ocean on my UCSB campus :) and listening to calming music, saying Psalms or just meditating on the wondrousness and detailed beauty of G-d's Creation, all of this helps to feel our souls more and connect. To shut off the laptop and cell phone, I-phone and TV, and just praise Hashem for the ability to breathe and feel and taste, to have family and friends who we love.

We are 1/2 way through this special month of 'Elul', where our Mystics tell us that "the King is in the Field" - G-d is more accessible. Every night when we sleep, our souls ascend to Gan Eden and plead with G-d Asking why they had to leave and descend into this coarse, insensitive world. Let's take advantage of this opportunity to, as the rapper Matisyahu rightly puts it, "Strip away the layers and reveal your soul!"

Just to end off with a quick story: Spiritual yearning often leads many Jews to search in every direction but their own heritage, oftentimes to Eastern Philosophies found primarily in India.
But sadly, many fail to realize that it was always right under their nose!
My good friend here in yeshiva, Diego G. from Chile, a very special soul, told me the other day that he spent many years in India studying their philosophy and living that life. One day, he visited a monk. Upon hearing about Diego's Jewish roots, the monk told him: "Go back and explore your Judaism. It's the true path for you."
Let's cash in on the special diamond of a soul we have and not just ignore it. Let's taste the sweetness of that deeper reality that we all have the ability to actualize.
Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel
Yerushalayim, Israel

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May you be inscribed & Sealed for a good & sweet year!Remember: Your next deed will change the world. Make it a good one!